The research study Positive Connections tested the Health Systems Navigation (HSN) model, an intervention linking near-peer interventionists with underserved HIV-infected individuals to assist them to become engaged and retained in HIV medical
care through supportive services and facilitated referrals. Working with a core group of local AIDS service organizations to identify unstable and out-of-care HIV-positive individuals, the HSN will enroll and provide health system navigation to participants. The principal goal was to enhance the probability that individuals from historically underserved populations would become engaged and retained in high quality, culturally competent HIV care. The theoretical basis for this intervention included individual behavior change models, social and community networks, and provider cultural competence. This project also sought to improve the understanding and the measurement of health care access problems by seeking to determine which problems have indicators and which do not, and to identify steps that can be taken to develop a reliable access monitoring system. The concept of Health Systems Navigator has been developed by the Multicultural AIDS Coalition.

The research study Positive Connections tested the Health Systems Navigation (HSN) model, an intervention linking near-peer interventionists with underserved HIV-infected individuals to assist them to become engaged and retained in HIV medical
care through supportive services and facilitated referrals. Working with a core group of local AIDS service organizations to identify unstable and out-of-care HIV-positive individuals, the HSN will enroll and provide health system navigation to participants. The principal goal was to enhance the probability that individuals from historically underserved populations would become engaged and retained in high quality, culturally competent HIV care. The theoretical basis for this intervention included individual behavior change models, social and community networks, and provider cultural competence. This project also sought to improve the understanding and the measurement of health care access problems by seeking to determine which problems have indicators and which do not, and to identify steps that can be taken to develop a reliable access monitoring system. The concept of Health Systems Navigator has been developed by the Multicultural AIDS Coalition.

Access Notes

The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

This study is provided by ICPSR.
ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis
for a diverse and expanding social science research community.

Study Design:
Participants were referred and recruited into the study through community based organizations that provide services to people living with HIV. The study was primarily interested in HIV-infected people who were unstable and out-of-care.

Description of Variables:
Variables collected include information on the services related to the care of HIV-infected participants, specifically the types, location, duration, and frequency of services. Additional variables include specific information on the barriers to receiving and staying in care, such as participants' relationship with care providers, stigma, recent drug use, and mental health.

Presence of Common Scales:
Several Likert-type scales were used

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: